home resort help

My wife and I have decided that we would like to purchase directly from Disney. However, we are now having difficulty deciding our home resort. Our two options are Aulani and Animal Kingdom. Both will cost same amount, and yearly dues are roughly the same. The benefit of Aulani, is that for the same price, we get a contract that expires 4 years later than Animal Kingdom. However, we are not likely to go to Hawaii very often. I am hearing mixed reviews on whether the 7 month window would be enough to book at the Florida reorts, which we will go to more often.

Personally, I believe the extra years is a great benefit, but my wife is leaning towards the security of having the 11 month booking window in the place we are more likely to go. I understand this is a personal decision, but we could use help! What would you do? Opt for the longer contract, or go with Animal Kingdom since we can book their 11 months in advance?

You will get a lot of opinions from others about choosing to buy direct from Disney vs resales. As one who purchased direct for my own personal reasons, I won't attempt to sway you either way. Yes, Aulani has an extended expiration date, but how often will you actually use the 11 month window. If you tend to frequent WDW, I would go with a home resort there. I know they are offering some perks with the purchase of AKL and Aulani, however the other resorts are also available to first time buyers. There is a minimum of 160 points that must be purchased (I believe SSR is only 100 points), and you may have to be placed on a wait list. Not sure what your point need was, but there are options available for other extended contracts. Good luck with your purchase

My wife and I have decided that we would like to purchase directly from Disney. However, we are now having difficulty deciding our home resort. Our two options are Aulani and Animal Kingdom. Both will cost same amount, and yearly dues are roughly the same. The benefit of Aulani, is that for the same price, we get a contract that expires 4 years later than Animal Kingdom. However, we are not likely to go to Hawaii very often. I am hearing mixed reviews on whether the 7 month window would be enough to book at the Florida reorts, which we will go to more often.

Personally, I believe the extra years is a great benefit, but my wife is leaning towards the security of having the 11 month booking window in the place we are more likely to go. I understand this is a personal decision, but we could use help! What would you do? Opt for the longer contract, or go with Animal Kingdom since we can book their 11 months in advance?

Best,
Newbies.

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All you are guaranteed in your contract is to be able to stay at your home resort. If rules changed down the road, would you be happy with being restricted to Aulani or Animal Kingdom?

Personally, I believe the extra years is a great benefit, but my wife is leaning towards the security of having the 11 month booking window in the place we are more likely to go. I understand this is a personal decision, but we could use help! What would you do? Opt for the longer contract, or go with Animal Kingdom since we can book their 11 months in advance?

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Sounds like your married to a smart cookie! If you only see yourself going to Aulani once in a blue moon, it makes no sense to own there. Additionally, DVC could decide to sell off Aulani if it is not meeting their fiscal needs, and then you would be out of DVC entirely. The 11 month booking window at WDW is very important during certain busy DVC times of the year -- Epcot F&W and Thanksgiving week through the first week of Jan are the most popular times for DVC members. Buying direct will probably get you 2012 and 2013 points, depending on which UY they are selling you. The extra perks that come with buying direct are never guaranteed and turn out to be a poor use of points, but that is info for another thread.

FYI -- Animal Kingdom is selling on the resale market for less than half what DVC is selling it for. My first AKV contract was purchased direct in 2008, but since then we have purchase 3 small AKV contract on the resale market and saved ourself thousands. Spend some time reading these boards to truly understand what you are getting.

I bought resale. If you are determined to buy direct, there are more options then just AKV or Aulani. You might have to push your guide to sell them to you though. Did you know you could get OKW points direct from Disney, for quite a bit less than AKV, and the expiration date would be 2057? Still not the kind of prices you can get via resale, but a better deal than you were given.

Don't think you are restricted to Animal Kindom villas or Aulani, just because that is where you guide would like to sell you.

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Thank you for your replies, ladies and gentlemen. We have previously decided to spend the extra money and buy direct, for peace of mind. However, I will look into this further on the boards.

I guess you all are right, and we should buy at WDW. Dangit, my wife always wins!

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That is some VERY expensive peace of mind, IMO. The restrictions that are currently placed on resale points are not of great value again IMO. So I personally was willing to live with them rather than pay twice as much to buy from Disney.

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Well we just went on a cruise and loved it. We understand that the points are of much value when putting towards a future cruise, but we thought maybe that could change in the future (prices of cruise go up, but points stay the same).

Seems like I have more research to do on whether to buy direct or resale, but at least I am now able to answer which resort to buy in to.

Well we just went on a cruise and loved it. We understand that the points are of much value when putting towards a future cruise, but we thought maybe that could change in the future (prices of cruise go up, but points stay the same).

Seems like I have more research to do on whether to buy direct or resale, but at least I am now able to answer which resort to buy in to.

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But that isn't how it works. Every year DVC renegotiates with DCL, and the points for cruises go UP, sometimes by a lot. Cruises are already much more (point cost) than they were even 5 years ago. It is already at or near the point that you do better financially to rent your points out and use those funds to book your cruise with cash. Just more food for thought.

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Someone already mentioned this, but to drive home this point - unless you are in love with AKV, you can buy direct at any DVC resort. Just tell your guide which resort you prefer. You might have to wait for a while for the points, depending on resort and UY you want, but you can select from any DVC resort, not just AKV.

Well we just went on a cruise and loved it. We understand that the points are of much value when putting towards a future cruise, but we thought maybe that could change in the future (prices of cruise go up, but points stay the same).

Seems like I have more research to do on whether to buy direct or resale, but at least I am now able to answer which resort to buy in to.

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That 'points stay the same' thing only applies to DVC resorts. Not any of the exchange options, such as DCL, ABD, Disney Collection, etc. The points for cruising are already quite high, and they go up pretty much every year.

Another important thing to be aware of is that DCL can and does restrict the number of cabins available for points bookings. In the past, they've had periods of months where they don't take any bookings on points. I tried to book a cruise on points in September a couple of years ago, and was told there were no cabins available for points on any cruise until the following October. There was plenty of availability for cash reservations during the same time period.

Well we just went on a cruise and loved it. We understand that the points are of much value when putting towards a future cruise, but we thought maybe that could change in the future (prices of cruise go up, but points stay the same).

you can do the math and decide if that sounds like a good deal to you (don't forget to factor in the $95 fee when you trade out of the DVC system). and as stated, the cruise and other trade-out point charts are not fixed at all and can change from year to year.

of course, there is always the risk that you pay extra to buy direct and wind up in a situation like this one where DVC blocks trades for cruises for the next year or so:

I had called [in August 2010] attempting to change the date of an Alaskan Cruise that my family and I had booked using DVC points...Well, after discussion with a representative that seemed hard to believe, I then asked for the supervisor I dealt with last Sunday. Here is the bottom line: ...DCL has blocked DVC members from booking cruises on points through September 30, 2011. This includes rebooking existing cruises such as I have been working on doing.

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if you have the cash and don't mind paying extra, suit yourself...but remember that if your circumstances change and you need to sell your DVC contract, you will be selling at resale prices in the resale market whether you originally bought direct or resale.

i'd agree with the posters who tell you to buy for use at DVC resorts where you plan to stay. that's all you are really guaranteed and the other stuff can come and go.

(and i see other people said the same thing while i was typing...oh well...still good advice...)

Since you were looking for opinions heres mine. For what it is worth. We took the DVC tour 3 times each time just couldn't make myself write that check (We were not going to finance). Kept reading on here and bought resale first at BLT and now have a BWV pending. Couldn't be happier with my decision. I to was worried about the difference between resale and direct. In the end My conclusion was If I wanted to use points to go on some other disney vacation I would just rent my points. When I crunched the numbers it was very close to what you could get for a concierge collection etc. Definitely in favor or the resale if you factor in the initial buy in. People argue both ways all the time and lots of threads on here about it.
As for home resort. I agree buy where you want to stay within reason but also look at availability. I have never run a search and couldn't get a AKV or SSR reservation when i wanted to go. Now I have never tried holidays and such because i avoid Disney like the plaque on high travel times. That could change but for now the 11 month booking is wasted on high availability rooms. Thats why I picked the 2 I did. One is my favorite BWV and one is high demand BLT. Just my opinion worth exactly what you paid for it.
Like others have said they may push you to buy what they want to sell you but if you truly want to buy direct tell them what you want. You might have to be on a wait list but I can't see that being much of an issue. The last time we took the tour, before we bought our first contract, it was AKV and OKW they were pushing. Once i told him what I wanted all of a sudden they had BWV contracts available. The only thing was they were in sizes I wasn't interested in or the UY was wrong. Once again another reason to buy resale for me. Anyway it is kind of funny I have read that disney can split them up anyway they want. I guess that decision is made higher up and once they're bundle they stay in that amount.
Looks like you are doing your homework. Just keep reading and make up your own mind. Don't buy till you look at all options realistically and your comfortable. Again not saying I'm right but when I was looking I liked seeing how other people viewed it. Learned all kinds of stuff that way.
size I guess

Well we just went on a cruise and loved it. We understand that the points are of much value when putting towards a future cruise, but we thought maybe that could change in the future (prices of cruise go up, but points stay the same).

Seems like I have more research to do on whether to buy direct or resale, but at least I am now able to answer which resort to buy in to.

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FYI - you can't use resale points purchased after March 2011 on a cruise.

New Policy Announced for Re-sale Purchases
Disney Vacation Club® has announced a new policy that limits access to certain Member Getaways exchanges for Ownership Interests purchased on the secondary market (also known as the re-sale market).

Under the new policy, Members who purchase from anyone other than Disney Vacation Development, Inc., on or after March 21, 2011, will not be eligible to use those Vacation Points to make reservations within the Concierge Collection, the Disney Collection or the Adventurer Collection. Those Vacation Points will instead be valid only for reservations at Disney Vacation Club resorts, as well as for RCI® exchanges, Club Cordial and Club Intrawest.

The affected collections are special Member benefits programs offered by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., and are not part of Members' Ownership Interests. That said, Members who purchased on the secondary market prior to March 21, 2011, may use those Vacation Points for all Member Getaways.

Note that the policy doesn't impact banking, borrowing or transferring Vacation Points. All Members will continue to have the ability make such transactions, regardless of where they purchased their Ownership Interests. Complete rules about these transactions are available in the Home Resort Rules and Regulations section of this website.

Well we just went on a cruise and loved it. We understand that the points are of much value when putting towards a future cruise, but we thought maybe that could change in the future (prices of cruise go up, but points stay the same).

Seems like I have more research to do on whether to buy direct or resale, but at least I am now able to answer which resort to buy in to.

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Things always change but with DCL in mind, they always get worse. I'd suggest you consider buying less points and putting away the difference for a cruise in the near future. If you do decide on retail, let me give you one additional thing to think about. I'd agree not to generally buy HI unless you plan to go routinely except if you want to go periodically during a higher season and/or the view there is important to you. IF you plan to get during a more demand time and you want the best views, you might consider buying the fixed week option there at 10% higher cost.